Anderson Silva’s team still interested in a go at Georges St-Pierre

Little has been heard from Anderson Silva’s camp since the middleweight champion stopped Chael Sonnen with strikes at UFC 148 to retain the title he’s held for more than five years. Instead of addressing his future or calling potential adversaries out, Silva has remained a recluse and allowed the contendership picture to slowly sort itself out.

With Alan Belcher, Vitor Belfort, Hector Lombard, Michael Bisping, and other options now off the table the only suitable opponents seemingly left for Silva are Tim Boetsch and Chris Weidman. However, neither carries much mainstream weight and the 37-year old Silva only seems interested in significant scraps.

On that note, Silva’s manager – Jorge Guimaraes – recently spoke about the situation in an interview with TATAME where he made it clear his client isn’t jumping at the chance to face a relative unknown and instead brought up an idea that hasn’t been tossed around in a few years.

“No opponent makes sense for Anderson at this moment…unless we do a catchweight againstGeorges St-Pierre. They didn’t offer the fight, but he’s the only one that could do a super fight,” said Guimaraes of Silva going at it with GSP. “Anderson has the biggest paycheck in the UFC, and you can’t promote an event with these amateur kids that are coming up now”.

St-Pierre, the UFC’s welterweight title-holder, is currently in the process of recovering from knee surgery sidelining him since mid-2011. He is expected to face Carlos Condit in November to unify his belt with Condit’s interim strap. There are also a handful of worthy challengers ready to go who have been forced to wait for an opportunity to open up while St-Pierre has been out. As such, it seems somewhat unlikely a much-anticipated meeting between GSP-Silva will take place but, if nothing else, at least seems “The Spider” hasn’t forgotten about cementing his status as the greatest fighter MMA has ever seen.

I think this fight needs to happen, but it can’t happen now. But if GSP returns to form, I think we could see the superfight next summer. GSP might want time to bulk up for the fight, and possibly move to MW afterwards.

I think GSP wins this fight, based on following the Sonnen gameplan and being immeasurably superior to Sonnen in every way….except fight hyping. Fortunately, this fight will sell itself.

GSP will have been out of action for close to 18 months by the time he’s back in the octagon; it’s obviously well over due that his belt gets defended. The timing of this super fight talk couldn’t really be worse.

GSP’s long-awaited return should provide a tremendous jumpstart to the WW division. Betwen Condit, Hendricks/Kampmann, and possibly Diaz if he eventually floats back into the picture on his cannabis cloud, there are intriguing matchups waiting for GSP that oughtta keep him busy thru at least 2013.

If Silva & his camp are set on a super fight rather than facing Weidman, or waiting for the contendership picture to sort itself out, then Jon Jones makes a ton more sense. After September 1, Jones will be in a very similar position having cleaned out his division other than “amateur kids that are coming up now.”

That last line is the type of thing that could help the Silva-Weidman matchup gain some traction. Chris needs to continue to call Anderson out, letting him know he has the skill set to finish what Chael started, and Anderson can keep referring to him as an amateur and set out to shut the kid up. It’s not the ideal matchup, as Chris could use another fight or two to establish himself, but I’m starting to come around to it given the lack of options.

The GSP thing is wishful thinking that just aint gonna happen. Silva has already successfully tested the LHW waters, and neither he nor Jones has a logical next opponent after September 1. So either drop the super fight talk and accept a matchup with Weidman, or shift the focus to the pairing that actually makes sense.

“No opponent makes sense for Anderson at this moment…unless we do a catchweight against Georges St-Pierre. They didn’t offer the fight, but he’s the only one that could do a super fight.”

I guess the “at this moment” qualifier makes that statement somewhat accurate, but it’s still pretty disingenuous. If Jones gets by Hendo on September 1, he makes much more sense than GSP in a super fight pairing.

So if/when that happens, if Silva & his camp are still singing that same tune, I will agree it’s a scenario where the much overused “ducking” label would actually fit.

@AlphaOmega,
Yes. Although (and I can’t believe I’m defending Jones) fighting a weight class down isn’t as respected as fighting a weight class up, so Jones get a little leeway.

@Richard
The “at this moment” part makes even less sense for GSP than it does for Jones (as you’ve already laid out.) In fact, if Hendo wins HE makes a lot more sense, at this moment, than GSP. Would any one argue Silva getting a title shot in the LHW division if Hendo held the title?

I think Silva doesn’t want to really do much in LHW on the off chance he gets put in a position to go against machida or lil nog, I’m not really a AS fan, but I think he could be a dual champ if he wanted to be.

Id take GSP via being the most well rounded and complete fight the sport has ever seen atm.. aka UD 50-45. Id love to see this honestly before Silva retires, it was so close to happening before Silva fucked it up with the Maia fight.

But id also love to see Hendo finally given his rematch and it being at 205 almost just as much

Except Silva enters at around 220. That’s 30 lbs heavier.
I know GSP has talked about adjusting his body to move up in weight, but honestly, how much more weight can he put on his frame? He’s never gonna weight 220 or even 210 and cut to 185 while keeping the same speed, strength, and flexibility ratio he has at 170.. As he gets older, I can see doing away with the weight cuts and being one of the smaller guys in the weight class, like Hendo is doing. But I can’t see him packing on the muscle and being an even average sized MW.